Christmas Trees
by movingstaircase
Summary: Hermione takes Draco to a Christmas tree farm. Who knew that picking the perfect tree would be such a big deal? Christmas one-shot.


**Just a one-shot. I couldn't not do a Christmas story for Christmas. So... yeah.**

**Thank you for any responses. :)**

**I own nothing.**

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><p>"How about this one?"<p>

"Please tell me you're joking." Hermione laughed.

"What?" Draco asked, furrowing his eyebrows at his fiancée who was currently in a fit of giggles. "What's wrong with it?"

"Oh, Draco, it's hideous! It's _way_ too small. And it has more branches than pine needles!"

"Yes, but I know you, Granger. You will shroud the poor thing in tacky decorations-"

"My decorations are _not_ tacky!"

"You'll cover it in bloody Gryffindor colours-"

"Red and gold is a _traditional_ Christmas colour scheme! It has nothing to do with me being a Gryffindor-"

"And by the time you are finished, we'll barely be able to find our way to the sofa, let alone see the tree."

"Draco Malfoy," She glared dangerously at the blonde who seemed to cower instinctively under her gaze. "There is no way on this _earth_ that we are purchasing this tree- it doesn't even _look_ like a Christmas tree! It's just- no!"

"You're too picky for your own good, Granger." Draco rolled his eyes.

"Shush. Now come on, let's keep looking." She rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm, continuing her task of pulling him along through the maze of Christmas trees and snow.

"Are you going to tell me what this is for?"

Draco gestured to the axe that she had insisted they drag along with them to the Christmas tree farm. He had never seen such a tool in his twenty-three years of life and, in his opinion, it was only natural that he should be wary of the foreign object. It wasn't the kindest looking of apparatus.

"You'll find out. As soon as I find our tree..."

"I? I thought you wanted to pick out a tree together? What happened to '_it's our first Christmas living together Draco, we have to do everything together, it has to special_'. What happened to-?"

"Yes, well, that was all until I discovered that you have the worst taste in Christmas trees I have ever known." She grimaced. "And what sort of impression was that? I sound nothing-"

"Oh, yes you do." He snorted. "You sound _exactly_ like that."

"Don't be so ridiculous." She gasped, shocked that he could say, let alone think, such a thing about her. "You- Oh, Draco! Look!"

Any insulting remarks were quickly forgotten as Hermione squealed, her eyes lighting up and fixing upon a tree in the distance. Draco's breath was knocked from him as she wrenched him towards her desired shrub. He had never believed that a grown woman could become so excited over a piece of wood. However, the jolts of pain making their way up his arm as she attempted to pull it from its socket told him otherwise.

"Christ, Granger. I'd like to have all of my limbs intact by the time we get home." He groaned as she continued her assault upon him.

"Shut up! Look!" She demanded, releasing his hand and beginning to admire the tree that she had dragged them over to.

"It looks the same as the one that I picked out!"

"It looks nothing alike!" She scowled at him. "It's perfect! You see, it's neat and there are no bald patches-"

"How can a_ tree_ have bald patches?"

"This is it. This is the one." She beamed, jumping up and down on the spot and clapping her hands in such a childlike way that it made Draco smile. "We're getting this one. All we need to do now is cut it down. Or rather, you do."

"Why me? You have a wand."

"That's why I told you to bring the axe."

"The- oh. You mean this thing?" He asked, gesturing again to the tool in his hand.

"Yes, that thing. You're going to chop it down the muggle way." She smiled and stepped away from the tree, waiting for him to get to work, only to be greeted with a gormless stare. It didn't take long for realisation to strike her. "Ah. Right. _Wizard_."

"_Muggleborn._" He shot back.

"It really isn't difficult, Draco. Just keep hitting the bottom of the trunk until it falls down."

"I had to, didn't I?" He seethed.

"You had to what?"

"I had to go and fall in love with _you_; muggle obsessed Hermione _bloody_ Granger."

"Oh, Draco. I love you too."

It was the sincerity that glinted within her eyes as the words left her mouth that caused him to break. He could never deny her anything as long as he knew that she loved him. Because as long as she loved him, he would love her back. Nine times out of ten, that fact drove him insane. He hated the hold that she had over him, though he just couldn't bring himself to hate _her_. And so, he began to hack away at the trunk of her chosen Christmas tree.

Hermione watched in awe as he carried out the task. Considering he had never used an axe to cut down a tree before, he was doing rather well. She was impressed and strangely proud. She began to snicker under her breath at the look of pure concentration upon his face and he turned to glower at her.

"I suppose I'll have to carry it too, won't I?" He sighed five minutes later when the tree had fallen down. Hermione simply smiled and shrugged as he heaved it up onto his shoulder, causing her to giggle yet again. "It's heavier than it looks!" He defended.

Hermione continued to smile to herself as she watched him trek off in the direction they had come, frowning profusely, with the Christmas tree hanging precariously from his shoulder. After bending down to pick up the axe that her fiancé had thrown onto the snow-covered ground, she ran after him, shouting his name continuously until he turned to scowl at her.

"What?" He snapped.

"I..." She trailed off under his gaze. She knew that her muggle traditions took their toll on him. She had never intended to upset him or make him angry, she just wanted their Christmas to be perfect. Just like when she was a child. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He replied, his glare beginning to soften.

"No, really, I mean it. I appreciate it. A lot. I know that Christmas must have been much different for you when you were a child, especially compared to mine. And I know that you don't agree with all of my traditions, but you go along with them anyway and- look, I just wanted to say thank you... I love you, you know that, right?"

"Come on, Granger." He chuckled nonchalantly and began to head back. "Looks like it's about to snow again and I'm not really a fan of frost bite. Let's get home. Maybe you can knock up some of that cocoa you've been nagging me about."

All Hermione could respond with was a laugh as she ran to catch up to him and took his free hand in her own.


End file.
